Rick’s Caf‹¨e hosted the “Drama Club College Tour” Wednesday night with performances by Everclear and its two opening bands, Jonny Lives! and Big City Rock.
The tour is meant to preface a nationwide tour for Everclear’s newest release Welcome to the Drama Club, lead singer Art Alexakis said. College towns seemed like a natural starting point.
“I love small college towns,” Alexakis said. “We’ve been to Lawrence, Kan., Champagne, Ill. Lots of places like that. I love the energy and the vibe I get from the college crowd.”
Drama Club is Alexakis’ most autobiographical album, he said.
“In the last two or three years I’ve had changes in the band, a hard divorce, a custody battle with my other ex-wife, my mom died and now we’ve made a record,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot of stuff. This record is about getting through heartbreak and hard times. [That theme] may have been done before, but this is my own personal take on it.”
Though the tour gets its name from Everclear’s new album, the majority of the songs played by the band were older tracks.
“It wouldn’t be fair to the fans to just concentrate on the new stuff,” Alexakis said. “We play all sorts of stuff. Four or five new songs, all the hits, obscure songs and some we’ve never played live before.”
This was true on Wednesday as the band tore through its set list, hitting crowd favorites such as “Santa Monica,” “Father of Mine,” and “AM Radio.” As the set apparently drew to a close, one song seemed to be on the minds of everyone in the crowd. As Everclear left the stage, encore cries of what could either be “One more song!” or requests for “Won-der-ful!” emanated from the temporarily disgruntled fans.
The band returned, obliging the crowd the not one but three more songs. The fast beat of “So Much for the Afterglow” got the crowd back going in time for “Wonderful.” By the looks on the faces of audience members, most considered this to be the final song. But Alexakis took the show one step further.
Allowing a plethora of girls to come on stage, Alexakis laid down the rules. No dirty dancing, no smoking, no drinking. Just having fun. The semi-lecture made it easy to see how Alexakis acts as the father of a teenage girl.
Once the girls had their instructions, the band broke out into its own rendition of Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny (867-5309),” ending the show as it began, with high energy.
The initial energy was fueled by New York City band Jonny Lives! and songs from its Get Steady EP. Frontman Jonny Dubowsky claims influence from The Kinks, The Jam, Elvis Costello and The Beatles, an amalgam of which can be heard in the band’s sound. More influence on the band can be found with storytellers.
“I’m a big fan of someone who can tell a good story,” Dubowsky said. “Someone who can take you out of your own self and take you into the eyes of a character. John Irving’s stories of youth and transition really nail the awkwardness of young age. I think rock ‘n’ roll is about embracing changes like those and thumbing your nose at people who refuse to grow up.”
Jonny Lives! and Big City Rock have been on tour with Everclear since September. The band will continue its journey with the other bands on the Drama Club College Tour as they travel to Mobile, Ala., today.
For more information about the bands, visit their MySpace pages at www.myspace.com/everclear, www.myspace.com/jonnylives, and www.myspace.com/bigcityrock.